stabenow: thank you very much mr. president. i want to ask -- i want to say first of all, thank you to our distinguished leader of the finance committee for including the portman-stabenow amendment. i first before calling it up want to add senator donnelly as a cosponsor and thank senators burr graham, collins baldwin brown, casey manchin schumer shaheen and warren for being cosponsors as well. mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and i would call up amendment number 1299. the presiding officer: without objection, the the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: senator stabenow proposes amendment number 1299 to amendment 1221. in section 102-b -- ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would ask that we assume the amendment has been read. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from ohio. mr. brown: mr. president i call up amendment 1251. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from ohio mr. brown proposes an amendment numbered 12

but i wanted to underscore what senator stabenow has said. i mean we've got some real challenges out there. thank you. >> i'm going to reclaim my time and take one more -- ask for one more question. ms. neuberger for you as well. we know that simple errors on applications, and this goes to how we -- the bureaucracy and how we do all of this for families, it's not only the school, but we need to care from the family's end of things in terms of what we are adding in bureaucracy. simple errors on applications are often the cause of improper payments. so it's not just intentional lack of reporting, it's somebody makes a mistake, they don't fill in a box, they do something, you know, that's simple, but it creates that error that mr. lord is talking about. in some cases errors result in children ending up having to pay for meals or they may not be paying for meals because of some -- some simple error. so to help make the system more efficient and ensure all children receive meals what are, again some of the ways applications can be improved the act

. >> senator stabenow. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. in this area we juggle of course the desire and the need to make sure we are accurate that children who need and qualify for lunch and breakfast are getting it as opposed to those who should not be. on the other hand, we have situations we don't want to add additional calls to the local schools were juggling between administrative costs and actually providing quality meals. and so we have a number of issues to juggle. i know in the last bill we did come having community eligibility put into place has made huge difference in michigan and schools to be more efficient and have more dollars going actually to feeding hungry children. but mr. lord first it sounded like you were saying that the usda has accepted your recommendations and are moving forward to make changes? >> absolutely. they agreed with all of our report recommendations, and gracefully provided an update of steps they're taking to implement them which is frankly good news for the program. >> that's great that's wonderful. an

if the portman-stabenow language is adopted into t.p.a. and these rules become part of our trade agreements, how long do you think it will take for our trading partners to enter disputes and seek remedies against the federal reserve quantitative easing poms policies? not long, i would imagine. if the portman-stabenow objective becomes part of our trade agreements, wrel undoubtedly see action to impose sanctions on u.s. trade under the guise that the federal reserve has manipulated our currency for trade advantage. we'll also be hearing from other countries that fed policy is causing instability in their financial markets and economies. and unless the fed takes a different path, those countries would argue for relief for justify their own exchange rate policies to gain some advantage for themselves. while we may not agree with those ales allegations, the point is that under the portman-stabenow formulation judgments and verdict on our policies will be taken out of our hands and rather, can be rendered by international trade tribunals. i don

stabenow: mr. president you have just heard a former u.s. trade represent rep who has led negotiations a senator who supports fast-track tell you that this is a reasonable policy to include in t.p.a. 60 members signed a letter a year ago to the president of the united states saying any new trade agreement must include enforceable currency provisions. this amendment makes that letter mean something. currency manipulation has cost us 5 million jobs and counting. enough is enough. please join us in supporting the amendment. mr. hatch: i rise in p oition is the portman-stabenow amendment number 1299. this is aimportant to me. there has been a the love discussion a understand debate -- there has been a lot of discussion and debate on this amendment. currency manipulation is a complex issue. mr. wyden: the senate is not in order. the presidingorder.officer the senate will be in order. mr. hatch: the vote on this amendment is not complex at all. a vote for the portman-stabenow allot is a vote to kill t.p.a. we know that, mr. president the administr

first, the portman-stabenow amendment would derail the trans-pacific partnership. once again we know that this is the case. i've chatted with japanese leaders, and they tell me this is the case. and that's a very, very important aspect of what we're trying to do here is to get japan for the first time to agree to a trade policy that works. i think we have a new leadership there that wants to agree and we ought to help them. none of our negotiating partners would sign a trade agreement that included the kinds of resumes mandated by the portman-stabenow amendment. we've already heard from countries like japan that they would walk away from the agreement if the u.s. started making these types of demands. furthermore, the u.s. would never agree to these types of demands either. what country would willingly sign a trade agreement that would subject their monetary policies to potential trade sanctions? no country that i'm aware of. i've heard some of my colleagues respond to these claims the same way they respond to the president's veto threat. they don't believe japan w

stabenow: mr. president, we want to add two more cosponsors today, senator hester and senator markey, and that brings us to a total of 35 cosponsors on this very important and common sense and amendment outlining the importance of the biggest 21st century trade barrier, and that is currency manipulation. i want to thank everyone who is joining together to cosponsor this. i also know there is a tremendous amount of energy going on to defeat this amendment going on in this last day and a lot of amendments -- comments made on the floor, and i want to first of all say that -- in response to comments from someone i have great respect for, the senator from tennessee who has an incredibly report and -- incredibly important role on policy issues, i would caution that we would call support for manufacturing, whether it would be auto or others, or supply trains, or manufacturing when we talk about protecting american jobs, i would point to the fact that there is a very important company of coal in tennessee

chairman. >> thank yous senator stabenow for an excellent statement. all members should be it guys we have devoted 1030:00. let's change that. the boat has been postponed until 2:00 this afternoon so we can finish. >> i guess that's power. >> it's amazing what you can do with the new congress. sorry about that. [laughter] let the record show and objection was heard. >> let me introduce our first panel. stephen m. lord managing director general accounting office harvested and investigative service. mr. lord serves with the gao. he oversees a highly trained staff charged with conducting special audits and investigations on major federal programs prone to fraud waste and abuse. mr. lord has received many awards over his 30-year career including awards for meritorious and distinguished gao service. mr. lord welcome and i look forward to your testimony and please go ahead and then i will introduce ms. neuberger for her statement. >> thank you chairman robert franqui member stabenow and members of the committee thank you for inviting me here today to discuss

stabenow: thank you very much. and before speaking specifically to our amendment i want to also indicate that there are a number of very important amendments coming before us on this open debate process i'm pleased we have a number of amendments pending that hopefully will be offered and voted on that relate to other very important topics, one of those is an amendment currently pending led by senator brown, i'm pleased to be a cosponsor of it that would clarify the process for new countries to join the trans-pacific partnership to ensure that additional countries, including china cannot join the agreement without congressional approval. and so i hope we will get a vote on that, and that certainly is part of this whole discussion on currency manipulation when we look at asia, we look at japan now, we look at china. so this is an important amendment. i -- i also want to indicate that -- i have terrific support for -- respect i should say for our chairman of the finance committee. i want to address an amendment i beli

stabenow: thank you very much.t to commend senator risch and am pleased to be oo cosponsor of this resolution which is incredibly important to people in michigan as well as, i know across the country. we have a very special man who unfortunately is being held as a hostage in iran and he needs to come home now. i've had the honor of getting to know the family of amir ahmadi, a patriotic american who served his country honorably and bravely as a marine from 2001 to 2005 in iraq and afghanistan. he is an american citizen but also became a dual citizen with iran in order to be able to visit his grandmother and other family members in iran. he last in august 2011 was visiting his grandmother and was arrested by the iranian authorities and charged with spying for the c.i.a., which was absolutely false. absolutely trumped-up charges. he was then deprived a fair trial and jailed on totally trumped-up charges. of those americans confirmed as prisoners in iran, none have been incarcerated longer than amir ahmadi. he is the p

that is why i'm supporting the portman-stabenow currency amendment, and i hope my colleagues will join me in standing up for american workers and fighting back against unfair currency manipulation. mr. president, i yield. ms. baldwin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: thank you mr. president. trade is a major issue for a manufacturing state like wisconsin. i'm very proud of the fact that the state i represent has had a rich history of making thing. and, in fact, i don't think that you can have an economy that's built to last that doesn't make things as a key part, a key sector of the overall economy. and so this debate on trade promotion authority and the trade bills that may follow to the floor of the senate and the house takes on a particular disproportionate impact in a state like wisconsin that makes things. and we've lost a lot of those manufacturing jobs in recent years. and you can't lay the entire blame on trade policies, but certainly some of our past trade deals have had a significant impact. and it's hard to find folks in the stat

stabenow: mr. president if i might -- i know senator worst is here to speak and i've already spoken but i want to echo senator brown's strong appeal that we vote on the level the playing field amendment. it is absolutely critical, and we have seen this across michigan as well as throughout the country communities have been devastated, not only the plant closings and good-paying jobs lost, the small business across the street and the whole community. and this is an incredibly important amendment and i hope that we will get a vote on it, i believe that the votes are here for this amendment on a bipartisan basis and i think it's critical that we vote and adopt it. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president i have an amendment that i would like to discuss. we about a year ago as a senate unanimously by voice vote ratified four treaties that helped protect american fisheries from illegal unreported and unregulated fishing around the world. what's called pirate fi

and i am pleased that senator stabenow feels the same way.tire community working together we can develop a well rounded bill that will improve the operation of these important programs. it is also my intention to complete this reauthorization on time. before the programs expire at the end of september. i understand there are some that may prefer that we not succeed in this endeavor. i caution those individuals that those programs are too important not to re-authorize. gambling, fortune telling or using a crystal ball to predict a better reauthorization in the future is foomish and short sighted, it is time for folks to come together and be part of crafting legislation, not to stand outside the process, hoping it fails. we have been in a listening mode for the reauthorization and that culminates in today's hearing. i have been to schools talking with parents teachers, school administrators and others. we have had hearings last year and we have our experts here today. as we seek to put what we have learned into legislative form several prioriti

chairman. >> senator stabenow you had additional question? >> i do. thank you. i do. thank you again to all of you. i guess i'm trying to put in perspective, you know, i realize we are making changes in the last five years and behavior's always hard to change, serving a process of moving in the direction of all of us of wanting to be more focused on health and wellness and we all know the benefits of that and we know change sometimes is hard and i have to say i have seen -- visited a lot of school districts, some very creative where you take the vegetable and you put green peppers and onion in the tacos and the kids don't know they're getting it and someone else says the government says you have to eat broccoli and a very different reaction depending on how things are, you know, are presented and we want to be in the creative process of that where we're sneaking it in and kids don't even know beans are a vegetable, right? but mr. goff i wanted to ask you about specifically the exemptions for whole grains and my dear friend and i really mean that from north dakota has

senator stabenow additional question. >> thank you again to all of you.ss i'm trying to put into his i've realized we are making changes or serve in the process of moving in the direction of all of us of wanting to be more focused on health and wellness and we all know the benefits of that. we know sometimes change is hard and i do have to say i've visited a lot of school districts. some very creative where you take vegetable of the green peppers and onion and the kids don't even know they're getting it. another is where someone says you have to eat broccoli. there's a different reaction depending on how things are presented and we want to be in the creative process of that where we are sneaky and then. i wanted to ask you about the exemptions for whole grains. my dear friend, i really mean that, from north dakota has been very passionate about this. i do thousands of schools across the country, we had 350 requests for waivers on whole grains. his 900 school districts alone. for request in kansas. so i am wondering, have you received any request that this

chairman. >> thank you senator stabenow for a next-line statement.e vote has been postponed until 2:00 this afternoon so we can finish. [laughter] it is amazing what you can do with a new congress, senator. [laughter] >> i object. >> let the record show an objection was heard. let me introduce our first panel. stephen lord managing director general accounting office, forensic audits and investigating their base. mr. lord serves as managing director of the audit and investigative service at the gao. he oversees a highly trained staff charged with conduct special audit and investigation for major federal programs prone to fraud, waste and abuse. mr. lord has received many awards over his 30 year career including the words for a meritorious and distinguished gao service. the steward, welcome and i look forward to your testimony. please go ahead and i'll introduce ms. neuberger for her statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you are invited me to discuss the recommendations of the 2014 report on the meals program. as you know i mentioned in opening

bill with the portman-stabenow language. and even if it could pass the house, secretary lew has made it clear that including that language in the bill would compel president obama to veto it. the hatch-wyden amendment on the other hand would strengthen our hand by providing a workable set of tools to counteract manipulation in a way that would protect our interests and achieve real results. and most importantly, it will preserve our ability to enact t.p.a. so that we can negotiate strong trade agreements that will help grow our economy and create jobs. that is a choice we face with these two amendments. there are colleagues who support t.p.a. who oppose the amendment and support the hatch-wyden alternative. and with that, i yield the floor. mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president first of all, i want colleagues to know that i think chairman hatch has made some very important points with respect to the currency issue and for colleagues to know that what the chairman a

. >> senator stabenow. trendlines in this area, we juggle of course the desire and the need to make sure we are accurate, the children who need and qualify for lunch and breakfast are getting at is opposed to those who should not be. on the other hand we have situations we don't want to add additional cost to the local schools juggling between administrative costs and actually providing quality meals. we have a number of issues to juggle. the last billy dead having community eligibility put into place has made a huge difference in michigan and schools be more efficient and have more dollars to feeding hungry children. mr. lord, it sounds like you are saying the usda has accepted your recommendations and are moving forward to make changes. >> yeah, absolutely. they agree with all of our report recommendations and recently provided an update of steps taken to implement them which is good news for the program. >> that is great. that is wonderful. when we talk about program integrity which is important, they ha

. >> senator stabenow you had additional questions? >> id. thank you. i do.u again to all of you. i guess i'm trying to put in perspective, you know, i realize we are making changes in the last five years and the behavior is always hard to change where we are serving a process and move in the direction, all of us wanting to be more focused on health and wellness, and we all know the benefits of that. we know sometimes change is hard. i do it is a i've visited a lot of school districts, some very creative what you take the vegetable and should put green peppers and onion in the tacos and the kids don't even know they are getting it which is great. and others when someone says no the government says you have to eat broccoli. so there's a different reaction depending on how things are presented, if we want to be in the creative process of that where we are sneaking in and kids don't even know beans are vegetable, right? but, mr. goff i would ask you about specifically the exemption for whole grains my dear friend, and i really mean that, from north dakota has be

d ranking member stabenow for inviting me here today. as i was introduced i'm sandra hassink and i'm president of the american academy of pediatrics a nonprofit professional organization of pediatricians and pediatric medical subspecialist whose mission it is to obtain the optimal physical social health and well-being for infants childrens, adolescents and young adults. it's an honor speaking about my life's work -- hield hood obesity and the connection between nutrition and health. the foundations of child health are built upon ensuring the three basic needs of every child -- sound and appropriate nutrition, stable responsive and nurturing relationships, and safe and healthy environments and communities. meeting these needs for each child is fundamental to achieving and sustaining optimal health and well-being into adulthood for every child. early investments in child health and nutrition are crucial. the time period from pregnancy through early childhood is one of rapid physical, cognitive emotional and social development and because o

stabenow: thank you very much mr. president. i rise today to talk about an issue that, by some estimates has cost the united states as many as 5 million jobs. that's a lot of jobs. and that's the issue of currency manipulation. and we're going to have an opportunity now that there's an agreement to move forward on the -- all of the issues related to trade whether it's fast-track or helping workers or enforcement issues or the other pieces that will be in front of us -- we will have an important opportunity to seriously move forward in a positive way for our manufacturers and for our agriculture and all those that are impacted by currency manipulation. inin fact, currency manipulation is the most significant 21st century trade barrier that american businesses and workers face today. and it is the least enforced against. we take the least amount of action against currency manipulation and yet it is the most significant 21st century trade barrier. and if we don't take meaningful action to address this issue we stand to lose even mo

. >> thank you senator stabenow. anyone else want to make an opening statement? >> mr.rman i want to thank you and the ranking member for getting us where we are. this is both necessary and long overdue. tpa expired in 2007 without authority which nearly every president since franklin roosevelt has. we will not be able to include trade negotiations whether either cultural products manufactured goods or services. the tpa bill who considered it has been updated and modernized for the global con man i just want to mention a couple of things. i appreciate your help in getting getting those include patent legislation includes a number of important provisions and i want to highlight two in particular. one has to do with helping us to eliminate nontariff carriers that impact our agricultural exports especially cross they use biotechnology. non-science-based regulations like some of our partners to become a major impediment to trade and something we need to address only come back basically bill includes digital trade provisions that will help with america's competitive edge. th

stabenow: thank you. i rise on the floor of the united states senate in memory of a young woman whose life was extraordinary and meaningful and whose passing has left so many of us so profoundly sad. on tuesday night -- on tuesday night rachel jacobing -- rachel jacobs left work and boarded a train to go home to her husband todd and her sons. her life full of passion and purpose was lost that night along with at least seven others when her train -- and we all know now about the train -- was derailed just outside of philadelphia. rachel touched so many lives all across the country. today all of those lives are broken. the loss is so profound her family has lost a wonderful wife and daughter and mother and sister and all of us have lost someone who had accomplished so much already in her young life and would have done so much more to make the world a better place if only she had been given the time. i want my colleagues in the senate to know rachel. i want them to know the life she lived. she grew up in the

. >> as we were going to the vote, senator stabenow who is not able to return back to the committee raised just this issue with me saying in the farm bill there were additional authorities that were given to do just exactly as you have said. are these additional authorities being utilized at this point, are they making a difference? >> we're beginning to utilize them. especially the ce authority in the form bill. we have projects going forward with that.arm bill. we have projects going forward with that. in fy 16, many of our projects will be using these new authorities. but we often take a year of planning and going through the nepa before we implement. 7 >> and i think this is the concern, that we have this process that we have to go through. is this what you were speaking to? is there any way to expedite that, in your view? you know that you've got to do. >> one of the difficulties that we do have with the cragin watershed, we do appreciate the opportunity to utilize the healthy scale restoration act. we would prefer full-scale restoration but at this point, we decided to move forward.

ask unanimous consent that the following senators be added as cosponsors to the brown amendment: stabenow, klobuchar blumenthal whitehouse, udall sanders, warren, manchin markey reed of rhode island and heinrich. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: the support to this funding level reached 300-some house members four years ago and 70 senators, including obviously a number in each party four years ago when we decided to support this number. so this funding level of 5of $575 was established four years ago. the amount included in the underlying bill is enough to operate the program we some say and we shouldn't bring the funding level back to the $575 million. fact is, mr. president we don't really know what. what we do know is that t.a.a., the trade adjustment 123457bs, the money that we provide to workers to be retrained after they have lost a job because of the decision that president obama an the congress have made to pass a trade agreement which always produces wirps and losers free trade supporters, free trade opponents all agree -- even cheerleaders as passionate as th

stabenow: thank you mr. president. i first want to thank the distinguished senator from arizona for his leadership and echo his words that we need a bipartisan solution on this issue and hopefully we're going to be able to address it, not only supporting our men and women when they are actively in harm's way but supporting them when they come home as veterans, which i know he cares deeply about as well. which is why we need a bipartisan balanced solution that we had before. so i thank you for your leadership. and, mr. president the reality is that this budget, any budget for the united states is about our values and our priorities. that's what it's all about as a country. and i have to say as a senior member of the budget committee i am deeply concerned about the values portrayed in this budget. i greatly respect the chairman and ranking member and thank them for their service. but when you look at this budget in total this goes opposite fangly to what the majority of the members talk about every day, because this part

prior to that senators jon cornyn patty murray jon mccain debbie stabenow and charles schumer came to the floor to discuss the budget agreement. this runs 50 minutes. >> mr. president i'm glad i had a chance to come to the floor and listen to the distinguished ranking member and the distinguished senior senator on the budget committee and the senior senator from california to talk about this budget but i feel like it's two ships passing in the night. when i see this remarkable accomplishment under the leadership of chairman nancy on the budget committee and the entire budget committee this is a congressional budget that talents is within 10 years. it doesn't raise taxes. it re-prioritizes our nations defense. it protects our most vulnerable citizens. improves economic growth which is literally the rising tide that lifts all votes in the growing economy something our economy has not been doing very well lately and it stops the federal government out of control federal spending. so this is really a remarkable accomplishment. as a matter fact this is the first joint 10 year balance budge

stabenow: thank you mr. president. i first want to thank the distinguished senator from arizona for his leadership and echo his words that we need a bipartisan solution on this issue and hopefully we're going to be able to address it, not only supporting our men and women when they are actively in harm's way but supporting them when they come home as veterans, which i know he cares deeply about as well. which is why we need a bipartisan balanced solution that we had before. so i thank you for your leadership. and, mr. president the reality is that this budget, any budget for the united states is about our values and our priorities. that's what it's all about as a country. and i have to say as a senior member of the budget committee i am deeply concerned about the values portrayed in this budget. i greatly respect the chairman and ranking member and thank them for their service. but when you look at this budget in total this goes opposite fangly to what the majority of the members talk about every day, because this part